Could a roaming robot assist in healthcare setting?

It can roam in a crowd
discreetly. Its demeanour is friendly and approachable and it can engage with
passers-by, inviting further contact through taking and delivering a photograph.

Selfiebot is a six-foot tall events robot that, with the aid of 3D sensors,
autonomously navigates its way around a peopled environment. An AI-powered
conversational interface makes ‘conversation’ possible like a chat box or voice
assistant.

“We have had a few
requests from hospitals and retirement homes about our robots. It is something
we are considering if we get more interest from that sector,” Selfiebot creative technologist Enrico Penzo told Healthmanagement.org
at Reflect Festival in Cyprus where the friendly roaming robot appeared in May.

The company has
several robot types in operation; in addition to Selfiebot, there’s Selfiebot Vox,
which is designed to mingle and interview the crowd, video recording responses.

Penzo explained that,
to date, the company’s robots have mostly been used at tech congresses,
red-carpet events and even weddings.

“The purpose of the
robot is to amplify the event beyond the physical space – so brands can have
users at an event to share on social media. It’s a capture tool for lead
generation but it’s also a nice way to give people a memory from the event
itself. The robot can send pictures via email and SMS and it reaches you in
real time.”

Selfiebot was one year
in R & D and progressed through seven prototypes before its current
form.

“We are keen to shape
the products in response to customer feature requests so we are constantly
improving Selfiebot,” Penzo said.

The concept of robots
being deployed in a healthcare setting is not new. A
physician-team, the Personal Robotics Laboratory at Imperial College London and
the Department of Psychology, University of Westminster in the UK have been
trialling ‘Junior’, an NAO robot that aims to lessen ward patient isolation by chatting
and playing music.

healthcare assistive robots, healthcare robots, Sophia the Robot, Selfibot, Junior
It can roam in a crowd discreetly. Its demeanour is friendly and approachable and it can engage with passers-by, inviting further contact through taking

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